I am wanting to buy a rifle mainly for target shooting at about 200 yards and also wanted to do long distance shoots with it. I think .308 is a good all around round. but here is my question. I have a friend that goes coyote hunting on his land every now and then and i might like to join him every once and a while, but the main use of this rifle would be percision target shooting. So do you think a .308 is ok for coyote? i could use down sized rounds for it. also getting 2 rifles is out of the question since i am a poor college student (poor even though the army is mainly footing the bill)

A 308 will do in a coyote to 200 yds. just fine as long as your not wanting the hide. Also a 308 is suitable for deer sized game or "long" shots.
If just coyotes to 2 or even 300 yrd. why not a .223? They will work on a animal that sized just fine. Just use a hollow or soft point.

A .308 is likely to blow the whole back half of the coyote away when you shoot them or similar bloody mess. Its good if you want the coyote taken care as a pest though if you intend to take the hide for leathercraft and so on, you be much better off with a .223 or 22-250 and still be accurate at the 200 yards you requested and with more and enough power to eliminate the coyote.

As long as you aren't trying to save the pelt, a .308 is great. It'll make a mess for sure, but if you've already decided on .308 as your cartridge of choice, I wouldn't think twice about using it on coyotes.

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The test of character is not 'hanging in' when you expect light at the end of the tunnel, but performance of duty, and persistence of example when you know no light is coming.
- Vice Admiral James Stockdale, USN (ret.)

The .308 will be a fine cartridge for you. For coyotes if its legal where you hunt you may want to look into full metal jacket rounds that may not destroy the hide if you want to keep it. If its just for predator control i wouldn't worry. I've used my .300 Win Mag to shoot coyotes before, its does a pretty effective job on them. Out of curiosity, are you using the G.I.Bill? I'm looking forward to using mine in the future.

For what you say you are looking to do with the rifle I'd look at a .243 Winchester. You can do alot with this round and still get a good varmint round and move up to a good deer cartridge with proper bullets. Nothing wrong with the .308, but if you are only looking to shoot 200 yards at the range the .243 is more than capable of good accuracy at that range and beyond. If you are wanting to shoot cheap surplus ammo then I'd go with the .223/5.56 rifle, good on varmints and paper, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.

If your primary goal were coyote hunting, that's a whole 'nother deal. There are lots of cartridges which are equally effective as the .308 but with much less recoil. Since that's a secondary goal, however, I wouldn't think twice about it.

I'd use 110-grain loads for coyotes...

Art

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like the others said the .308 with work fine for yotes as long as you don't want to save the pelt. If you reload, get some 110 grain m1 carbine bullets and load them up on the .308 brass. This makes for a smok'n load that decemates yotes and other smaller critters.

For the question about the G.I Bill. I used mine and it paid for what the loans didn't cover. Make sure to apply for the pell grants as well. It really helped out. My GI bill lasted through my Bachelors (already had an associates before using the GI Bill) and I am still using it as I start my MBA. I only wish I had opted for the extra 600 bucks investement for the "kicker" that they offered right before I got out. That would have made a huge difference.

Happy shooting and one piece of advice. Take some of the old books from classes you hated out to the range. After I wasted about 100rds of .223 on a statistics book, I felt great! (love math, and always got A's, but that darn stats class struggled to get a B)...

If I had a choice of only one cartridge for coyotes only, I would go with a 22-250. If I were thinking that I may go deer hunting also, I would go with a .243. I don't own a .308 but my 7mm mag works well for deer or moose or elk.....I think it all depends on the versitality on the round you are looking for.

It'll do the job of taking him down... I posted a couple picks of what a .30-06 did to a coyote, pretty much gutted its side out for me... Where I'm from you have to use a rimfire when night hunting coyotes... so .22mag is the main choice for people.... but a .308 is a nice round to have on the shelf

__________________got me a little lady, the gun buying has come to an end, sigh

.308 will definitely do in a coyote, even at extended range. BUT, if you wanna save the pelts (a worthwhile endeavor, as a good pelt is worth about $50) you want something smaller. If you just wanna have something to shoot accurately at the range (<300 yards) a .22-250, or maybe a .223 makes more sense.

Another option I'm looking to is a Savage, which allows easy barrel swaps. Gonna buy a gun (caliber TBD), a stock I really like, a decent scope......Then I can "add" calibers with different barrels and a set of headspace guages. Less expensive than buying multiple guns.

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+1 on handloading the 308 30 carbine bullets, I do it and it works well. They are cheap and you can use surplus AA1680 powder, cheap on the surplus powder market, to load them with. PM me if you want some load data. (Use at your own risk or course.)

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I don't carry a gun to go looking for trouble, I carry a gun in case trouble finds me.

If you handload why not stick with the .308 and load some Accelererators in it (.223 bullets in a sabot) never tried them but hear they are fast and as accurate as your regular ammo through the gun.....now you got "2" rifles

Just to throw something else in the mix, how about 7mm-08. Very similar to the 308 just necked down, not as much recoil, small rounds - standard is 140gr. and works for both deer and coyote. Just a little fuel for the fire. Thanks for your service to our country.

I use a 7 mag for coyotes here in ID. Main reason is that I am not going to go out and buy a smaller caliber just for shooting them.
I do however use a smaller 120 grain bullet with alot of velocity (around 3200 fps, + or -) and it ruins their day. Shot 2 yesterday, and drops them very fast!
I for one would rather shut a 7 mag... than a 223, 22/250, 243.. etc. I am a grown man and have no problem shooting a larger gun... as I have a 30/06, and a 7 Mag.. but like the 7 mag the best to shoot.

I dont yet have a dedicated coyote rifle so I use my deer gun. Right now that is Ruger M77MkII in .270 Win. Previously it was a Remington 742 woodmaster in .243 Win

Buy the target gun you want and it will kill coyotes just fine. With a heavily constructed or even a Remington core-lokt bullet you wont cause a lot of damage on your average yote. They arent very big or tough animals so you wont get a lot of expansion. There are rounds available for the .308 with FMJ too but i wouldnt reccomend using them.

I like to see coyotes that are really quite dead so i use a 110 grain spitzer in my .270 loaded to the max with IMR 4831. Bang....thwack....done.

well, let me slant this from the perspective of someone that has actually killed coyotes with a .308.
I have killed out to 250 yards with my Remington 700. With proper bullets, the .308 will kill them cleanly as far as you can see them. Remember, this is the same round that snipers shoot folks with at 1000 yards.
I have been handloading the Hornady 130 grain spire point over IMR4895, and getting exellent accuracy.
In my experience, the exit wounds are baseball size, and the animal usually leaps up, and flops down.

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